A California Senator plans to propose legislation this month to finance an upgrade of the CURES database, the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation system. The system is currently funded by fees collected from the medical board and other professional licensing agencies, but an estimated $2.8 million upgrade would be needed to handle an increased demand on the system and make it more accessible. Medical experts and specialists in prescription drug abuse are urging the use of the database to monitor doctors' prescribing patterns and allow for earlier detection of practitioners who may be overprescribing.
Similar databases are already in use in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Wyoming.
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